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Accrediting team finds dysfunction in CU-Boulder journalism school

Site team recommends 'provisional accreditation'

By Brittany Anas, Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
03/02/2011 04:26:50 PM MST

Updated:
03/02/2011 10:36:03 PM MST

An accrediting team that evaluated the University of Colorado's journalism school says, in a new report, that dysfunction and faculty factions in the school are so serious they have caused university leaders to intervene.

As a result, the team from the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication found the school to be non-compliant in "governance" -- one of the nine criteria used to evaluate the school. The site team recommended that CU's School of Journalism and Mass Communication be given "provisional accreditation." The report was released Wednesday.

CU's journalism school was last evaluated six years ago and received full accreditation then.

The new report's authors wrote: "The School is a mass of contradictions: accomplished academics who form a bloc to prevent forward movement; a caring Dean who has failed in his aspirations; a committed Advisory Board that has turned against the school. Yet students are graduating, generally seem content and are finding jobs."

If the finding is supported by two national accrediting bodies later this spring, the school has two years to rectify the main problem cited in the report so it can remain accredited.

CU's top leaders this school year have recommended that the journalism school be discontinued.

The report suggests that as the program discontinuance process moves forward, an effective structure must be built that acknowledges the high demand for journalism education.

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There are now 768 journalism students and 682 pre-journalism students, according to adviser Jeanne Brown. This spring and summer, there will be 260 students graduating from the school. The school typically produces fewer than 200 graduates in the spring and summer.

Among the strengths in the journalism school, according to the report, is a curriculum that combines skills-focused and conceptual courses; top-notch students who are passionate about their education; and a strong base of adjunct faculty members who bring contemporary skills into the classroom.

The school is also praised for doing a good job placing interns and housing special centers on environment and media, religion and culture. The Digital Test Kitchen shows promise as a next effort of national prominence, according to the report.

CU President Bruce Benson has until April 14 to make a recommendation about whether the traditional journalism school should be shut down. The move requires approval from the Board of Regents.

A "journalism-plus" proposal from the Boulder campus suggests that CU stop offering a bachelor's degree in journalism after fall 2012. Instead, students would need to pursue a double major that includes journalism, while majors in other subjects can add a minor or certificate in journalism.

"I think that under this year's unusual circumstances, with program discontinuance looming in the foreground, this recommendation is a good result for us," journalism Dean Paul Voakes said in a statement. "The scenario of building an 'effective structure' to move our program forward seems eminently feasible."

The school needs to do a better job incorporating diversity into its curriculum, and not enough classes are being taught by regular faculty members, according to the report. The aged Armory building is too small and requires classes to be scattered throughout the campus. The journalism school moved into the building from Macky Auditorium about a decade ago.

The report provides outside perspective on the journalism school's strengths and weaknesses, which may be helpful as the university shapes the future of journalism education, said CU spokesman Bronson Hilliard.

"Out of happenstance, these two events that are independent of each other -- accreditation and the discontinuance process -- coincided," he said.

Anna Zook, a CU junior majoring in broadcast journalism, said she's concerned about the journalism school's possible closure as she's competing for jobs and internships with students from other traditional, accredited journalism schools.

Zook, from Seattle, said she came to CU for its journalism school and thinks the faculty members have done a great job training her for the job market. She said she's learned broadcast skills that allow her to move comfortably from behind the camera in production and newsgathering to delivering news in front of the camera.

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